The Misleading Truth
by Indigo Tides
Summary: Secrets can bond friendship together. But once it's spread, secrets have a knack into finding its way to the wrong people. Can a secret hold together the aquantinces? Or will everything fall into the hands of a villian? For their journey is about to begin... Based on the 2012 series.
1. Chapter 1

Daniel awoke to the strong smell of disinfectant and something overwhelmingly strong. The odors were making her head spin and the lights blinked in and out of her vision like a traffic light behind her shut eyelids. After a couple of shallow breaths later, she finally got in control of herself and opened her eyes. Dim yellow lights displayed above her, casting spotlights onto the white tiled floors and ceiling. She could tell she was standing against something, for a cold wall was pressing uncomfortably against her back.

She tried to take a step forward, but was stopped to an abrupt halt. Her forearms were trapped, pinned tightly to cuffs attached to the wall.

"Oh crap…" she whispered, desperately trying to free her arms.

But Daniel heard a noise. It was coming from the opposite side of the room, a scraping sound, and was definitely coming closer. There was a moment of silence, and all Daniel could hear was the pounding of her heart.

Then three men burst into the room. Two of them were in identical clothes; all black with red bandannas tied just below their hairline and covered from head to toe. Both were pushing a fairly large table with an enclosed case on top. The last man was much more intimidating. He wore spiked armor on his shoulders, arms, matching his head gear. Its three pronged helmet gleamed from the lights above, along with the satisfactory in his rotten eye.

Without missing a beat, he strode over to Daniel, his cape fluttering ever so slightly.

"So," he said; his voice like gravel. "This is the turtle's little pet."

Daniel swallowed hard. She knew only faintly of this "terror" that the boys had mentioned a while back, but this had taken her fear to a whole new level.

The man studied her for a minute, and then turned briskly to his two companions.

Then he gave them a motion with his hand and the two men wheeled the table over to him. He deliberately opened the case and pulled something out.

Daniel's stomach did a gigantic lurch as he faced her again. In his hand was a syringe with glowing green contents.

"You see this? This is what made your turtle friends so unique." He waved it in front of her face. Daniel could now see that up close, the liquid was green and glowing, but contained pieces of blue goop, too. Mutagen.

Then he touched the tip of the needle onto her bicep, fingers ready to press down.

"What do you think? Do you think the freaks can save you now?" he demanded.

This time, it was her heart that gave a mighty lurch. She remembered their faces, their broken hearts, unbelieving eyes. The pleading and angered cries echoing inside her skull. Daniel bowed her head, tears stinging the corners of her eyes.

"No," she murmured.

He gave an odd sort of chuckle.

"Too bad."

And with that, he pressed down on the plunger.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Disclaimer- I do not own any TMNT characters except for my OC's (Daniel, Uncle Elmer and Derrin). All characters go to their own creators.**

**Hello there my lovely readers! Thank you so much for reveiwing my story so far! This chapter is more of a filler chapter before I get into the good stuff! :)**

**Also, I want to thank EpicThunder101 for reveiwing! This one's for you! **

**Enjoy! :)**

* * *

The air was stifling hot on a very sunny July morning.

So hot, that all workers in the Silver Studio had to open all of the doors and windows in the building. Of course, with the low budget, none of the windows had screens so bugs of many a kind wandered in as they pleased.

In one of the back rooms, however, wasn't swarming with insects. A teen sat perched on the windowsill, keeping cool with a box fan positioned toward her. She was fiddling with a handheld microscope, rotating it and taking out tiny parts. Somehow her little cousin managed to jam the little light bulb under the tray into the eyepiece without damaging the glass whatsoever. So when she tried to inspect this cool bug, all she saw were two blurry wires.

All around her lay little screws and plates of the disassembled instrument in her hands. She was so concentrated on her work, that she didn't even hear the office's door click open.

A man, around his mid- fifties, shuffled to the big desk by the corner and grabbed a packet from the top basket.

"Was that Bryan's handiwork?" he asked.

The girl almost fell out of the window at the sound of his voice.

"Uncle Elmer! I didn't even hear you come in!" She cleared her voice and started on the microscope again. "And yes, little Bryan was trying to test his mechanic skills with this one."

Uncle Elmer laughed, his green eyes shinning.

"Well, it looks like you're doing a pretty good job there, lad," he commented.

She ducked her head and murmured a quite thank you. Truth to be told, compliments like that only sprang up in times of work with excellent quality. The girl quietly took out another screw, no noise to be heard in the room.

Uncle Elmer then broke the silence by suggesting,

"Speaking of microscopes, I want you to come around front. Derrin is on the brink of making something new."

The teen nodded, following her uncle out of his tiny office.

Besides the neatness of the room she'd just been in, the rest of the building was overstuffed with lab tables, chairs and desks in every possible inch of the floor. But besides the messiness of the room, it was actually quite comfortable.

One of Uncle Elmer's quotes he spoke when the company first started running was,

"The work is hard, the attire is easy."

Besides the experimental group of workers who have to deal with new testing equipment with white lab coats, it was all jeans, sneakers and tee shirts.

Uncle Elmer, for example, arrived to work at the crack of dawn in his usual plaid shirt, jeans and sneakers. It made his niece smile a bit, knowing how laid back he was about his career even though he was the manager of the whole business.

As they rounded a table, a man in his early thirties flagged them down with a gigantic flapping of his arms by the front window.

"Doctor Green! Long time no see, eh?" he exclaimed eagerly, shaking hands with the older man once he was in reach. "You wouldn't believe how much I've learned down in Austin!"

Uncle Elmer grinned and replied,

"Well, I can't argue with that matter, Derrin… they've got some of the best researchers and scientists in this field!"

Up close, she could now see his physical appearance. He had messy brown hair with blue eyes that didn't seem to stop smiling. And just like her uncle, Derrin wore sneakers (neon yellow to be specific), and jeans. His tee shirt was black with a little rocket ship on it saying,

"This IS rocket science!"

The girl cleared her throat quietly, hoping to gain his attention.

Derrin took a step towards the girl, hand outstretched.

"And this must be the famous niece I've heard so much about!" he proclaimed.

The girl shook his hand.

"I'm Daniel. It's nice to meet you," she responded politely.

Derrin pulled his hand back and clapped it on her shoulder.

"What a polite, young lady! So you're in…what? Grad school? College?"

Daniel shook her head, grinning.

"Nope. I'm in high school, actually. I just finished my freshmen year."

Derrin smiled.

"Why, I remember _my _freshmen year! I loved the science courses; why I even memorized the Periodic Table of Elements! I had all the good grades…all the wedgies…and the dorkiest glasses you could ever find in the yearbook."

He tapped his temple.

"You see? Contacts."

Daniel giggled, and was about to ask to hear more stories, but was interrupted.

"Now, what was it that you were working on? Something on discovering something new?" Uncle Elmer questioned.

"Oh right!" Derrin popped over to his desk – which was littered with paperwork – and opened his computer.

"You see, I was tinkering with the theory of Biomimetics, and came across this database," he explained. Uncle Elmer rotated the computer towards him and viewed the page, his eyes skittering as he read.

"So this helps with natural dyes?" Daniel summarized once she read the headline. "How did you do it?"

Derrin shot her a goofy smile.

"Really, I have no idea. I was searching on some databases and POOF! Tada! I found something!"

Uncle Elmer straitened up.

"Actually, another company was interested in this as well. If we can just file a meeting down, maybe we can try and work this out together." He flipped through the packet that he'd grabbed from his office, muttering about flight schedules. Daniel gave a confused look to Derrin, who simply shrugged.

"Ah! Here we go! A 4:00 pm direct flight to New York City. Perfect for a summer weekend. Daniel, do you want to come with me?"

Daniel gave a shocked look to her uncle, her eyes almost bugging out of her head.

"Go? To the Big Apple? For a business trip?"

"Now, it's okay if you want to stay here. Business trips can get a little boring. I just thought we could do some sight seeing in between meetings, that's all," sighed Doctor Green.

"No, no! I want to go! I mean, I've always dreamed of going there! We can see the Statue of Liberty, walk on the Brooklyn Bridge, and maybe even see some famous actors while we're there! This'll be so much fun!" cried Daniel.

Derrin chuckled.

"Well, I guess this means it's settled. I've went there once, with my college buddies. I got to see some really neat stuff." He shook hands with the niece and uncle. "It was great to see you guys again."

"We'll be in touch, Derrin," promised Uncle Elmer. He motioned for Daniel to head back to his office. Doctor Green and Daniel walked back to the room, when Daniel heard a shout.

"Make sure to send me a postcard!"

Daniel turned to give Derrin a fleeting smile and a thumbs up before following the older man's suite. Goodbye rural Pennsylvania and hello urban New York! she thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello my dear readers! I'm sorry this chappie is late... I was away for vacation, but now I'm back! Yay! **

**Anyway, enjoy the reading! (P.S.- Reviews or feedback would be great! Let me know what you think!)**

**~IndigoTides**

* * *

The flight to New York was pretty smooth. Literally and figuratively.

Uncle Elmer decided to take a private jet instead of the usual commercial planes with fancy drinks and leathery couches. Of course, Daniel drank up the view from the air and sent them to some of her friends back home through her laptop.

But the real excitement waited in the city of wonders. It was already around noon, and Daniel got to see 5th Avenue with all the shops, stop buy a few street vendors for snacks and watch a concert by some celebrity that was covered head to toe in feathers. Although Daniel couldn't tell what words she was singing, the thrill of excitement of the crowd gave her chills as it surged to the beat.

By the time it was over, Daniel's stomach was starting to mimic a lion's roar. Uncle Elmer hailed down a taxi cab, giving specific directions to head back to their hotel.

"Uncle Elmer? Do you think we could stop by a shop for lunch? I haven't eaten since the plane ride."

He gave her his famous grin. "Dani-girl, you're the captain of this ship. Tell me where you think is good to eat." The car hit a pot hole, and swerved hard to the right. Daniel banged her head on the window with a hollow clunk, the driver swearing like a fiend.

"Easy on the turns, please," Uncle Elmer requested.

"Yessir," came the response.

Daniel rubbed her temple, searching out the window for an interesting lunch spot. There were a couple minutes of silence as she searched.

"Uncle Elmer! I think I found-" Daniel started.

A cheerful noise interrupted her discovery, drowning out the noise of the taxi's engine. Uncle Elmer held up his index finger for the 'one minute' symbol and dug through his pocket. He triumphantly pulled out his flip phone, which was now in the midst of playing the Star Wars theme song.

"Doctor Green," he greeted curtly, cutting off the cherry tune. A serious expression wiped out his usual care free look, and he began stroking his chin in thought.

"Yes, I see but... of course sir... maybe I can schedule something for today. How does lunch sound at the diner by Mario's? Yessir... of course I'll bring it... yes...see you soon."

He shut the phone with a resounding snap and turned towards his niece.

"I'm sorry for such the late notice, Daniel. That was Mr. Saki, the director I'm meeting with for Derrin's idea. Maybe we can do that lunch with just us another time."

Daniel gave a small smile and said,

"No problem, Uncle Elmer. Besides, we have a full week until we head back, so that'd be plenty of time!"

Doctor Green ruffled her hair playfully and responded,

"Atta girl!"

The cab made another heart-stopping lurch forward, barely missing a group of business men on the crosswalk. While the car stalled, Daniel eyed the near missed men. They were identical, down to the last button on their suits. All of them in the group - which looked like four men - hovered at least six feet. The suits, she noticed, were all freshly pressed and shoes were shined.

She rolled down her window and nudged her uncle.

"Look! Quadruplets! Do you think they're in a show?"

At that remark, all four heads swiveled towards the car. But what startled Daniel the most were the faces. She'd expected them to smile, or wave, or keep walking like all native New Yorkers. Instead, they stared at her with the utmost expression of pure blankness. With half lidded eyes, they could've been thinking anything. And that scared her.

One of them reaching into his jacket's pocket, but another one of his buddies laid a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. He reluctantly took his hand out of the deep pocket, and the whole group departed to the sidewalk with odd, jerky steps.

"Eh? Quadruplets? Must be a street show or something..." Uncle Elmer returned his eyes downcast on the phone in his hand.

The rest of the cat ride carried on with no conversation, except for the driver occasionally pitting out colorful words because of close call accidents.

Then they were parked outside the hotel in only a matter of minutes, Daniel rubbing new bruises of her forehead. The driver turned towards his passengers and barked,

"That'd be $15.75 sir."

Uncle Elmer gave him a crumpled up bill and called over his shoulder,

"Keep the change! Come on, Dani-girl."

Daniel scrambled out of the cab to her awaiting uncle, who had retrieved his briefcase out of the trunk. Once the taxi peeled out of the shoulder, Uncle Elmer pulled a cream colored folder out of his bag and handed it to his niece.

"Would you mind slipping this into my room? Actually, you can keep it in your room if my key doesn't work. It's just some extra info on the Biomimetics project." He stood up strait and checked his watch. "I should be back around 2:00 at the latest for the lunch. There's still some of that leftover pizza in the fridge, if you want it. And stay out of trouble!"

Daniel replied sarcastically,

"Oh, you know me. The cops are on my trail like crazy!"

Her uncle smiled, and gave her a slip of paper with emergency contact information. He made sure she slipped it into her pocket left with a friendly wink.

Daniel scuffed the sidewalk with her toe, thinking,

I love Uncle Elmer, but he's always leaving for meetings with his work... if I was manager for Silver Studios, I would make sure all meetings would be short, sweet, and to the point. In fact, I'd move the company right here to the Big Apple. Yeah! The company would stand in a gleaming skyscraper, and we'd have thousands of clients and other people working with us! Every worker would get their own floor with a private lab, heck maybe even a balcony, and Derrin would be my secretary!

That made her smile. Derrin, the possibly big brotherly-ist person in the company working right next door to her! There would be office wars with the cool supplies, races down the hall on swivel chairs, and prank call to random strangers.

Although I'm here only for a short amount of time, Daniel thought, it seems as though I'm homesick already. There's the big labs, friendly people to hang out with, little cousins barging around, and- UFF!

Daniel struck something very tall and fell, landing hard on her bottom. She groaned and rubbed her elbow sorely which was peppered with bits of gravel from the fall. Stupid pole.

"Ow," came another voice. Daniel's head shot up, and she felt her face flush with embarrassment. She didn't walk into a pole… it was a person!

"Ohmygosh!I'msosorry!IguessIdidn' ?" gushed a very red faced Daniel. She's only been here for a couple of hours and had already showed off her clumsiness.

The other teen waved her off. "It's no biggie. Seriously, I've had a lot worse than just walking into people. Have you tried stop signs? Or taxi cabs? Yeah- they hurt!" She bent on the ground to pick up the scattered papers from Daniel's folder. Daniel followed her example, her face still flushed.

The girl, with the papers all collected in one hand, straitened up, hauling Daniel to her feet as well. Daniel collected the paperwork and shoved it into the folder.

She could now see up close of the other girl. She wore a red blouse with a pair of black shorts that reached her knees. On her feet were platform sandals-hence why she easily topped Daniel off by a good foot- and a matching headband to the shoes. Her long black hair was put into a low braid. But her eyes were really cool, almost like the color of fire. Bright red flames that seemed to dance around the pupil. This girl, Daniel thought enviously, could easily pass as a model! Daniel then said,

"Are you sure I didn't bruise you or anything?"

The other girl laughed and replied,

"Of course not. I'm Roxanne by the way."

"My name's Daniel, but most people like to call me Dani."

Daniel's stomach rumbled and roared, while Roxanne looked on with an amused look.

"I'm pretty hungry myself. I know this cute little café a couple blocks from here we could go to for a quick lunch," Roxanne suggested, hitching a thumb in the direction.

"Sure! I'd love to!" agreed Daniel. "But I need to run this up to my room before we go. Do you mind?"

Roxanne shook her head and smiled.

"I'll be right here. Just hurry! It gets packed by the lunch hour!"

The teen nodded, and sprinted in to the building. She couldn't wait! Had she just made a new friend on day one of visiting her dream vacation? Check. Mate.


End file.
